Eritrea will not engage with the British Home Office on issues of migrant returns "under threat of punitive action or duress," Yafet Zereou, Head of Diplomatic Affairs at the Eritrean Embassy to the UK, has told The New Arab.
Zereou did, however, say his country would otherwise be willing to work with the Home Office, which is responsible for immigration.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced on Thursday that the ministry will block all visas for Eritreans if the East African country did not accept the return of Eritreans with no legal right to be in the UK.
Zereou said "the prospect of an Eritrean being granted a UK entry visa is very minimal," which he said was due to strict visa conditions "not just to Eritreans but Africans as a whole."
Mahmood also said in a statement that the Home Office has ended preferential visa processing for VIPs and government officials, and will bar Eritrean diplomats from traveling more than 37 miles outside of London without special permission.
Eritreans were the largest single nationality arriving to the UK in small boats between June 2025 and June 2026, according to Home Office data.
Migration via the English Channel in small boats has become a contentious issue in the UK after a sharp rise in such crossings in recent years. In 2018, 299 people arrived to the UK in small boats. By 2022, that number was around 46,000.
There has been a slight fall in the number of people crossing, with around 41,000 people arriving to the UK in small boats in 2025.
The rise is, in part due to an increase in the number of people on each boat. In 2018, an average of 7 people were in each boat, a figure which rose to 65 people per boat between June 2025 and June 2026.
According to analysis by Full Fact, a total of 162 people died while crossing the Channel in small boats between 2018 and 2025. The Home Office says the vast majority of people crossing claim asylum once they arrive in the UK.
Human Rights Watch has condemned the humanitarian situation in Eritrea, saying the government "subjects its population to widespread repression, including widespread forced labour and conscription."
Eritrea has a policy of indefinite, forced military conscription for everyone aged 18 to 40, which Amnesty International says can amount to slavery. Many people seeking asylum from Eritrea hope to escape such conscription.
UN Special Rapporteur for Eritrea Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker has warned states against returning asylum seekers to Eritrea due to the risk of persecution if returned.
Zereou for his part said that Eritrea wanted further dialogue with the Home Office before considering the return of asylum seekers.
"The resumption of cooperation in this matter depends entirely on the Home Office’s willingness to engage in meaningful and appropriate discussions on this issue," he told TNA.
However, a Home Office spokesperson said that the UK was still engaging with Eritrea.
"Claims that the UK has shown no interest in constructive dialogue are false," a Home Office spokesperson told The New Arab. "The UK has repeatedly sought to engage with the Eritrean authorities and secure their co-operation on returns, including repeatedly offering to send a Home Office delegation to Asmara to discuss returns co-operation."